They stole my data now they want my money

I have been notified three times this year that systems containing my private data have been hacked, compromised or breached.

One breach was in a company that has my social security number even though I haven’t done any work for them for eight years.

When I asked them to take my information out of their database they told me that they can not and that they keep personal data because sometimes people work for them again.

My advice is to choose your employers wisely because they may keep your personal data in their systems forever.

The social security number was invented in 1939. A lot has changed since then. The social security number is supposed to be used for just one thing, to track social security, yet I can not renew my drivers license or my real estate license or even get medical care without using my social security number.

How can data be considered private if 30 to 50 entities can demand it before they provide services.

There are companies that are making money by offering to protect our data. Some of the money being paid for identity protection services is going right back to the credit bureau that got hacked a few times. What a scam.

Identity protection services could be a scam. We don’t have any proof that they work or that they monitor anything.

I am getting a lot of emails from companies trying to scare me into buying identity protection and monitoring services. The free monitoring I am getting because of data breaches will eventually expire and I’ll have to pay for it. What a scam!

Identity theft can ruin a credit rating. Crooks use identify information to open new credit card accounts and then they go shopping.

People with low credit ratings have trouble renting apartments and qualifying for a home loan. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) permits employers to request credit reports on job applicants and existing employees. That doesn’t sound at all fair to me.

The best interest rates go to the people with the best credit scores. There will be people who have trouble buying a home or who have to wait to buy a home because of identify theft.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act was passed in 1970 to ensure fairness, accuracy and privacy of the personal information contained in the files of the credit reporting agencies.

The system would be more fair if the credit bureaus had to pay me for the use of my private information, credit score and social security number.

We can put a lock or a freeze on our accounts but neither of those actions will prevent identity theft but will protect credit. A lock is more convenient but more expensive than the freeze. The credit bureaus as likely to have the most profitable year ever.

Honestly to me this is all outrageous. If ever there was an industry that needs an overhaul the credit and credit score industry is it.